1. Technical Field:
The present invention relates in general to the field of integrated circuit device testing and in particular to methods for testing integrated circuit devices which are to be directly mounted without traditional packaging. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to methods for accurately and rapidly temporarily interconnecting an integrated circuit device and an integrated circuit device tester.
2. Description of the Related Art:
Integrated circuit device testing, sometimes referred to as "burn-in" testing, is a common practice in the electronics industry. In order to weed out so-called "infant death" failures, manufactures of integrated circuit devices and equipment which utilizes such devices often subject these integrated circuit devices to repeated testing cycles in an environmentally controlled chamber or "oven" in order to detect those devices which may fail during initial utilization.
Very often this testing is accomplished by manually inserting multiple integrated circuit devices which are mounted within traditional dual-in line-packaging into appropriate test sockets in a test fixture. The test fixture is then coupled to an appropriate power and signal source and the integrated circuit devices are then subjected to repeated cycles of operation within a heated chamber
While the aforementioned technique works well for traditionally packaged integrated circuit devices which may be manually inserted into appropriate sockets, many modern electronic devices utilize direct mount integrated circuit devices which are not contained within a package. With such devices it is much more difficult to handle the device and, of course, still more difficult to test such devices since test sockets may not be utilized.
It should therefore be apparent that a need exists for a method and apparatus which permits the rapid and accurate testing of integrated circuit devices which are not mounted within traditional packaging.